As a doctor who helps laboring women in their worst pain , often it is very hard to empathize (cause I have never given birth my self ) and sometimes (often) conclude the pain does not warrant the patient to yell and scream so much! While I worked as a resident obgyn doctor in a government funded college at Goa, India ( the tiniest state of my overpopulated country), we did not have facilities for an epidural analgesia ( pain relief ) during labor. So our patients went through it bravely with the bare minimum pain relief injections and often, we had to resort to “verbal” analgesia ( pain relief) with words of comfort which sometimes turned to snarky taunts at 3am after a 72 hour shift by a sleep deprived resident to a patient yelling at the top of her lungs at every contraction!! So, ahem, you get the picture!
Over my 6 years of residency, I started out by detesting the constant screaming, it hurt my ears initially but over time I grew accustomed and the painful labor yells and shouts of my patients in labor room turned to a background white noise .. I could read / sleep / have a telephonic conversation while I managed it all, oblivious to the drama but equally sharp to pick up the one woman who did yell when the baby crowned, More often some women in labor just yelled, ran around the ward, slapped their husbands , bit , spat and even pinched the resident doctors and nurses in their pain.
I broke 2 phones , cut my fingers and got bruised many times from the antics! Although this seems very barbaric, it was partly cause the patient population were actually younger aged illiterate girls who had no idea what to expect in labor despite all the education we imparted ( bare minimum) at antenatal check ups and the zero advice from their own mothers. It was hard to explain to them that this pain was temporary and it would all end once the baby delivered and they needed to conserve their energy to push the child.
Exhaustion would hit these women and the final hour would be an ordeal of 3 doctors 2 nurses and the patient refusing to push and a baby needing intervention at birth!! SIGH!! The most heart breaking part would be the mother watching us struggle to get her baby to breathe, would apologise profusely and beg of our help ( which we would be doing)!!! This scene is like judgement day with Jesus… we refuse to listen to the priest yelling at the pulpit or read the Bible to educate and improve our knowledge on our faith, ignore the neighbor seeking help but scream, complain and whine at every mishap for Gods help and make no effort to cooperate with his instructions and finally at the D day we wonder why is our soul in need of resuscitation and the beg for mercy and forgiveness!!
But, the twist to the story is after all the drama unfolds, as the patient is discharged home, the sight of watching the new family go home happy makes up for the lack of sleep and physical exhaustion and sometimes if the patient realises how much effort and stress all the healthcare workers put into making that event happen, some may even say a word of thanks and smile! We often do not realise God does not make us fail an exam or get rejected at an interview or dump a hectic work load on the weekend you had a break up nor does he kill your pet or family member or cause corona virus pandemic!! It is a human response to the situation in our lives, when we chose not to study or see the oppurtunities the newer jobs offer, when we go around in clusters and maintain no social distance or personal hygiene and risk every one around us. While God is happy you are reading this reflection, ( I am) or commenting on it but a thank you everyday when you wake up alive !!
Today , if and when you reach this line, do close your eyes and say ” Thank you Lord for everything and most importantly my life” and smile and get through the day. Let us not let minor setbacks or even major inevitable ones diminish our faith in the higher power but remember our manners and say “Thank you!”
PRAYER:
Lord I thank you for this day, my life and every one in it. I thank you for my soul and faith and thank you for the strength to pull through this year of the pandemic. I thank you Jesus for being my constant companion when nothing would go my way and I ask you to guide all those working and infected with corona virus to see the bright side of the situation! Thank you Lord , thank you JEsus , thank you Mary!! Bless the whole World!
AMEN.
